In buildings having ducted air ventilation systems, it is well known that through normal operation of a furnace or air conditioning system, the ducts in the system will gradually collect and deposit a large amount of dust and debris. The collection and deposit of excessive amounts of dust or debris within the ventilation system of a residential or commercial buildings affects the efficiency of the ventilation system requiring increased maintenance of the air moving equipment as well as higher energy costs. Furthermore, the overall air quality within the building is affected. Excessive amounts of dust or debris may provide a health hazard to people within the building contributing to conditions such as allergies, asthma or respiratory disorders.
Accordingly, it is necessary for ductwork to be periodically cleaned of any deposited materials in order to ensure proper airflow as well as to minimize any health hazards within the building.
If a ventilation system has been neglected for an extended period of time, the deposits within the ducts of the ventilation system may be particularly tenacious to remove. In particular, the lower horizontal surfaces of the ducts are more susceptible to the gradual build-up of debris, often forming a dense mass of materials which strongly adhere to the duct surfaces. These deposits may comprise such contaminants as dirt, hair, clothing fibres, left-over construction materials, decaying organic matter and a variety of dead or active organisms such as dust mites, bacteria, fungus, viruses or pollen. Other contaminants may also be in the system. The vertical and overhead surfaces of the ducts generally collect more loosely adhering dust or dirt.
In order to properly clean the ducts of a ventilation system, a building owner often hires a contractor who has the specialised equipment necessary to properly clean the ventilation system. A large number of cleaning systems have been developed over the years which may be used to remove material from a duct system. Examples of past systems include, U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,363 which discloses a vent cleaning system which has a brush component that may be rotated about a flexible shaft in order to dislodge dirt from the duct system which may then be vacuumed into a vacuum conduit also within the rotating shaft, U.K. Patent 9350, issued Jul. 22, 1899, which discloses an apparatus for improving the removal of dusty deposits from a suffice and U.S. Pat. No. 1,869,730 which discloses an apparatus for cleaning tubes comprising two separate brushing surfaces, each of the underlying surfaces having a plurality of inlets through which dislodged material may be suctioned therefrom. Other systems such as those disclosed in PCT application WO85/02565 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,921 also disclose duct cleaning apparatus.
These past systems, however, have been limited in a number of ways, principly by the complexity of the system and, hence, cost, or alternatively by the adaptability of the system to efficiently clean ducts having both round and rectangular cross sections, typically found in the hot air delivery and cold air return portions of the ventilation system respectively.
Furthermore, it is often the case that a duct cleaning contractor may operate a related business such as carpet cleaning, both of which utilize vacuum equipment, often located in the contractor's truck or van. In that the power source for both a carpet cleaning and duct cleaning operation requires a strong vacuum pump with a high airflow, in the past there has been a need for duct cleaning apparatus which may be quickly and easily adapted to a typical vacuum hose which may be used with carpet cleaning equipment. Accordingly, there has been a need for a simple and inexpensive duct cleaning apparatus that uses an existing vacuum power source, such as that used in the carpet cleaning business to provide suction power for removing dirt and debris from duct work.
In the past, there has also been a need for a system that effectively removes the more tenacious deposits typically found on the lower horizontal surfaces of rectangular ducts. Thus, there has been a need for equipment which provides localized vacuum power to a brushing device and that focusses the majority of the vacuum power to the lower surfaces for removing the lower deposits as well as removing dirt dislodged from the remaining surfaces.
Accordingly, there has been a need for duct cleaning equipment that is quickly and easily adaptable to duct work of different sizes and cross-sections, such as round and rectangular ducts, where a vacuum hose can be easily removed and applied to a brushing head having a different cross-section to effectively provide and apparatus for the dislodging and removal of debris from the ducts.